Movie |
Liberation Of Hostage | Dictator
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Budget 35,000,000 USD
Box Office Collection 99,423,521 USD
Jean-Claude Van Damme revealed later that during filming, he had a drug problem (doing $10,000 worth of cocaine a week) and an affair with Kylie Minogue. Director Steven E. de Souza confirmed in 2018 that van Damme's cocaine addiction caused constant disruptions during filming. The studio had hired a wrangler to keep an eye on van Damme, but this person was a bad influence himself. The action star would often call in sick, leave the set, show up late or not at all, forcing de Souza to find other scenes to film in order to make up for lost time.
Director Steven E. de Souza deferred his salary to pay for his cast.
For the role of M. Bison, Raul Julia researched various dictators and crime lords and their lives and personalities, and mimicked many of their traits to incorporate into the M.Bison character (notably Benito Mussolini's hand gestures, Joseph Stalin's mannerisms, Pablo Escobar and his elusiveness and Adolf Hitler's love of art). Julia also approached the role with a Shakespearean tone, looking at Bison in the same type of villain as Richard III.
According to cast and crew, Jean-Claude Van Damme was not easy to work with, due to a combination of professional ego and substance abuse. Being the biggest star on the film, van Damme got a presidential hotel suite with a gym put into his room, but he would often refuse to come out of the hotel or his trailer until he felt ready. When he did come out, he would often bring alcohol to the set, or take hours to shoot his scenes. By contrast, everyone loved Kylie Minogue, praising her for her professionalism and generosity, such as hiring a club and buying drinks for the entire cast and crew to make the tough shoot a little easier. There was equal praise for Raul Julia, who was accompanied by his family due to being terminally ill with stomach cancer; despite his declining health and frail state, everyone thought that Julia was always focused, and was a joy to work with.
The final scene of all the characters is a real-life recreation of an animation from the video game, where all the characters are on screen at the same time, and do their "win" animation.
"Chun Li: [to Bison] It was twenty years ago. You hadn't promoted yourself to general yet. You were just a petty drug lord. Huh! You and your gang of murderers gathered your small ounce of courage to raid across the border for food... weapons... [indicates her bonds] Chun Li: ... hmph. Slave labor. My father was the village magistrate. A simple man with a simple code: justice. He gathered the few people that he could to stand against you. [laughs] Chun Li: You and your bullies were driven back by farmers with pitchforks! My father saved his village at the cost of his own life. You had him shot as you ran away! A hero... at a thousand paces. Bison: I'm sorry. I don't remember any of it. Chun Li: You don't remember? Bison: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."
"Colonel Guile: Troopers! I have just received new orders. Our superiors say the war is cancelled, and we can all go home. Bison is getting paid off for his crimes, and our friends will have died here... will have died for nothing. But... we can all go home. Meanwhile, ideas like peace, freedom and justice - they get packed up. But... we can all go home. Well... I'm not going home. I'm gonna get on my boat, and I'm going up-river, and I'm going to kick that son-of-a-bitch Bison's ass so HARD... that the next Bison wanna-be is gonna feel it. Now who wants to go home... and who wants to go with ME!"
